On the Road
“…All I wanted to do was sneak out into the night and disappear somewhere,
and go and find out what everybody was doing all over the country."
This yearning to meet and talk with people pulsates with every page, especially with Dean. Dean is constantly looking for new people to talk to. He meets up with Sal at a party and he's talking with everyone, looking at everyone and everything from every possible "angle". His excitement is contagious. This is the main thrust of his character. Dean lives. He wants to experience all of it. Reading the book made me realize how much I take life for granted and how much of what I do is mechanical, predictable, boring. It is a decision to enjoy life. It reminds me of what Emerson said concerning the stars; we would be amazed and enthralled if they were to shine suddenly for just one night. We should look at everything as if looking at it for the first time… Shlovsky’s defamiliarization. Certainly, Dean's excitement is rare, excessive, and yet the point or reminder is there — you only go around once, so start noticing things, start talking to people, start enjoying yourself! "I decided then and there to go to Hollywood and back through Texas to see my bayou gang; then the rest be damned." Sal never elaborates on what "the rest" is, but I just filled in my own idea of what the "rest" might be and took off with him. It was liberating. Sal and Dean, on the road, “the rest be damned.” Dean's zest for life is appealing. His eagerness to talk with strangers and visit new places is appealing. The way he talks is odd but appealing. But his abuse toward women is ugly. His stealing cars is ugly. His abandoning his wives and children is ugly. So, yeah, that’s the gorilla in the room. Beneath the rock-star Beat generation glamour is a kid growing up without a father. So, here it is. Choice 1: Be true to yourself and live your dream. Do what you want to do. If that means leave the family, then leave the family. Choice 2: Deny who you are and suppress your dreams. Stay with the family, even if they suffocate you and make you miserable. It’s an old story, really. One that reaches deep into our human past and summons a nature that we do not fully understand. And it’s a recent story as well. The American incarnation of the story: A friend and I drove cross-country. Why did I want to do it? Road trip! I needed to “see the country.” Wind in my hair. Who knows? Why did George Bailey want to travel in It's a Wonderful Life? Interestingly enough, he ends up staying in Bedford Falls. Choice 2. It was a good choice. It all worked out in the end.
and go and find out what everybody was doing all over the country."
This yearning to meet and talk with people pulsates with every page, especially with Dean. Dean is constantly looking for new people to talk to. He meets up with Sal at a party and he's talking with everyone, looking at everyone and everything from every possible "angle". His excitement is contagious. This is the main thrust of his character. Dean lives. He wants to experience all of it. Reading the book made me realize how much I take life for granted and how much of what I do is mechanical, predictable, boring. It is a decision to enjoy life. It reminds me of what Emerson said concerning the stars; we would be amazed and enthralled if they were to shine suddenly for just one night. We should look at everything as if looking at it for the first time… Shlovsky’s defamiliarization. Certainly, Dean's excitement is rare, excessive, and yet the point or reminder is there — you only go around once, so start noticing things, start talking to people, start enjoying yourself! "I decided then and there to go to Hollywood and back through Texas to see my bayou gang; then the rest be damned." Sal never elaborates on what "the rest" is, but I just filled in my own idea of what the "rest" might be and took off with him. It was liberating. Sal and Dean, on the road, “the rest be damned.” Dean's zest for life is appealing. His eagerness to talk with strangers and visit new places is appealing. The way he talks is odd but appealing. But his abuse toward women is ugly. His stealing cars is ugly. His abandoning his wives and children is ugly. So, yeah, that’s the gorilla in the room. Beneath the rock-star Beat generation glamour is a kid growing up without a father. So, here it is. Choice 1: Be true to yourself and live your dream. Do what you want to do. If that means leave the family, then leave the family. Choice 2: Deny who you are and suppress your dreams. Stay with the family, even if they suffocate you and make you miserable. It’s an old story, really. One that reaches deep into our human past and summons a nature that we do not fully understand. And it’s a recent story as well. The American incarnation of the story: A friend and I drove cross-country. Why did I want to do it? Road trip! I needed to “see the country.” Wind in my hair. Who knows? Why did George Bailey want to travel in It's a Wonderful Life? Interestingly enough, he ends up staying in Bedford Falls. Choice 2. It was a good choice. It all worked out in the end.